MTV Launches New Music Platform, Asking Fans To Donate To Their Favorite Artists

Katy Perry's page features a biography, music videos, and Twitter updates. Screenshot / Artists.MTV MTV has officially launched Artists.MTV, a unique music platform that showcases the best of today's musical talent, from Justin Bieber and Rihanna to underground artists and budding YouTube artists (including Karmin).

The site has a surprisingly similar layout to Tumblr and Pinterest but MTV assured The Hollywood Reporter that they are only trying to create "a community of artists."

Each artist's page features the their music videos, interviews, albums, recent news (including Twitter feed), and a biography - all of which is managed by the artist directly.

A partnership with Topspin will allow fans to donate directly to their favorite artists without a middleman and for artists to sell "digital and physical products" to their fans. In addition to product revenue, artists will also receive 50 percent of all ad revenue.

"This is a very pro-artist initiative. To get fans to put money directly into the pockets of artists they love. To help artists and emerging artists get heard, get promoted and get paid," Shannon Connolly, Senior VP of digital music strategy, explained.

In exchange, fans can donate to their favorite artists directly (without any middleman organizations).

MTV hopes to profile a million artists—a lofty goal yet an achievable one. In 2010, MTV launched an early prototype of Artists.MTV, the MTV Music Meter app. It showcased over 1.8 million artists, The Hollywood Reporter reports.

The beta platform is already out (which you can check out here). The official launch will be on September 6.